"Have we reached an agreement?" Laurist asked faintly.
This was a very luxurious mansion in the noble district of the capital of Wendelbri. It was originally the residence of a count from the southern province of the Iberian Kingdom. However, after the owner was executed by Duke Fisabulon for treason four years ago, this luxurious mansion had been sealed off. Laurist could stay in the Rose Palace with his status as the duke of the north, but he didn't want to be with the second prince and the others, so he chose this mansion as his residence.
It was almost dusk when Fatty Shi returned. He found Laurist sitting by the window of the dark study, watching the sunset. Hearing Laurist's question, he took off his outer cloak and passed it to Genolio. "Get me a bottle of fruit wine," he ordered. "I've been drinking tea all afternoon, and it's tasteless now."
"Your Highness, we've reached an agreement. Duke Fisablon is willing to pay a million gold coins as ransom for the freedom of the 40,000 soldiers of the 3rd Ranger Corps, but they want us to equip them properly. "Fatty Shi pulled a chair over and sat down beside Lollister." That's right, "Lollister said.
"Haha …" Laurist laughed coldly. "Looks like the Fisabulon Family is very rich. They just offered a million to the second prince, and now they're willing to fork out another million as ransom. It looks like we'll have to double the price next time. However, they want us to equip forty thousand people with weapons for a mere million. What a good idea. "
The Fisabulon Family's Ranger Corps was equipped with the 103 standard cavalry armor and weapons custom-made from the Norton Family. A set cost sixty-five gold hoof gold. After the Third Border Ranger Corps surrendered, their equipment and weapons were taken back by the Norton Family. Now, Duke Fisabulon wanted to use a million gold hoof gold to fully arm the forty thousand soldiers who surrendered. No wonder Laurist said it was a good idea.
"Your Highness, this agreement can only be carried out if you agree. If you don't, we'll slowly argue with them. We're not the ones in a hurry," Fatty Shi said.
Laurist shook his head slightly. "It's not that simple. What do our three allies say? “
Fatty Shi took a glass of fruit wine from Genolio and took a sip. "Count Filim and Count Shahin think that since we and Archduke Fisablon belong to the Andinac Kingdom and are allies in the war against the four central duchies, we can let them go. There's no need to push them so hard. Duke Kemus did his best to help us haggle, but Duke Fisablun insisted that this was their bottom line. Other than this one million gold coins, they couldn't take out another gold coin. As for our King, he was obviously speaking up for the Fisablon Family. He hinted to us several times to stop while we were ahead and not to go overboard … "
Laurist was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Forget it, there's no need to be so calculative. Otherwise, people will say that the Norton Family is petty. The soldiers of the Third Border Army are different from the soldiers we captured before. Their families are in the Fisablon Family's territory, and they were forced to surrender. They have always been unconvinced and think that we defeated them by trickery. In particular, their commander took responsibility for surrendering in front of them and committed suicide. This caused the soldiers to harbor resentment and desire for revenge against the Norton Family. We can't make them work for our family. The longer they are imprisoned, the deeper the hatred will grow. Let's just let them go. "
"Your Highness, aren't you afraid of letting the tiger return to the mountain? In the future, when the Fisablon Family starts a war with us again, these soldiers will be extremely powerful, right?" Fatty Shi was not in favor of letting these 40,000 old soldiers go.
"Haha, extremely powerful? With just them? " Laurist laughed in disdain. "I admit that the power of the spirit will make these soldiers more powerful when they fight against the Norton Family in the future, but so what? Are we afraid? True strength doesn't just rely on the spirit. It also requires good weapons, perfect defense, long-term cooperation, hard training, and invincible confidence. When these soldiers really fight against our family's armed forces in the future and are defeated by us again, they will fear us from the bottom of their hearts. When their spirit is destroyed by us, they will be useless and have no fighting power to speak of. "
Fatty Shi downed the fruit wine in his cup in one gulp. "Alright, then let's go with this agreement."
"Wait …" Laurist said. "Don't let that old Fisablon have it easy. You can ask Director Spear. I remember that after we destroyed the Madras Principality, we seized a lot of broken leather armors and scrap metal weapons. They were all collected by Director Spear and left to rot in the warehouse. Bring these over to equip the 40,000 captives of the 3rd Ranger Legion. If that old fellow Fisablun protests, tell him that the original 615 Cavalry Type 103 standard equipment is now being sold at a discounted price of 50 gold fords per set. Bring another 2 million and replace them with new equipment. Otherwise, he can come and find me for a falling out. "
Fatty Shi was amused. "Your Highness, you are too cruel. That old man Fisablon will vomit blood from anger. This is simply a slap in the face. Alright, let's do it this way. Anyway, the agreement only says to give them equipment, but it doesn't say that we have to give them any equipment … "
Laurist sighed again. "I don't want this to happen either. After this incident, I'm afraid that the second prince will slander us for not seeing the big picture. The Fisablon Family will hate us to the core. But I'm sorry, I can't just watch the Fisablon Family recover their strength and strength. Compared to the second prince, the Fisablon Family is our biggest threat. "
Fatty Shi stopped laughing. After a while, he also sighed. "Your Highness, are you angry for Count Filim and Count Shahin? They are our family's allies, but now they are dragging us down. Maybe we should consider breaking the alliance with them. In fact, many people in the family think that without the alliance of the four northern families, the Norton Family's power might have expanded even faster … "
Laurist finally stood up and walked to the window. Leaning against it, he looked at the streets and houses in the distance and asked, "You think so too? The alliance of the four northern families is a burden and not a help to the Norton Family? “
Fatty Shi shook his head. "Although I don't think so, I also feel that Your Highness seems to value the alliance with the three families too much. In fact, even if the three families join forces, they won't be able to resist our family's army. Ever since we conquered the Madras Duchy and the Iberian Kingdom, some people in the family have always thought that Your Highness is taking care of the three families' allies too much. For example, the Kenneth Family. They have a province all to themselves. We even allowed them to build a merchant fleet and gave them a share of the profits from the North Sea trade.
As for Count Filim, not only did we send troops to help him return to his family's territory, but we also provided money and troops to help him stabilize the situation. We even went to war with the Filim Family for them, sacrificing tens of thousands of loyal and brave family forces. Many family knights and officials think that we have suffered a great loss in conquering the Iberian Kingdom, and that the Filim Family has taken advantage of us.
And Count Shahin, he was originally just a Gold Knight under the former Duke of the North, Duke Lujins. If it wasn't for our family's support, he wouldn't have become a member of the four northern families. How can he be compared to the Norton Family?
Although I don't support these views, I also think that Your Highness is indeed taking care of the three families' allies. But I think Your Highness must have a reason for doing this. It's just that our vision is not as far as Your Highness, and we can't see it clearly. "
Laurist chuckled. "Alright, stop flattering me. Even if you want to flatter me, you should at least do it properly. But I think you still don't have the talent for it."
"Maybe you won't believe it, but when I first proposed to form the four family alliance, I didn't put much thought into it. I just wanted to find an outlet for the newly produced goods in the family's territory. Compared to the four northern families alliance, I valued the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce more. I hoped to sell the family's goods to other provinces through the Chamber of Commerce. As for the four northern families alliance, the original purpose was only to calm the three families down, "Laurist said as he walked with his head lowered.
"Calm?" Fatty Shi was surprised. Laurist had never revealed this to anyone before.
"Yes, calm," Laurist said. "At that time, we just happened to join forces with the three families to dig a hole for the second prince. Then, with the cooperation of the three families, we destroyed the second prince's Iberian Kingdom's first legion and tens of thousands of nobles' allied forces. Then, you went crazy and wiped out all the nobles in the North, except for the three families' allies. The excuse was that they helped the second prince attack the Norton Family's territory.
Think about it yourself. If I didn't propose the alliance at that time, what would have happened in the North? It was obvious that the three families would unite against the Norton Family. This was because the Norton Family had wiped out all the nobles in the North. To those three families, if they didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the nobles, they could only unite to deal with the Norton Family. And if we used our family's armed forces, although we could wipe out the three families, our family's armed forces would also suffer great losses. The gains did not make up for the losses. Moreover, the North would become even more chaotic, and it would even affect the development and construction of our family's territory.
That was why I proposed the four families to form an alliance to calm the hearts of the three families' allies. This also prevented the North from having any more wars. Everyone would work together to fight against the threat from the Madras Duchy and the Iberian Kingdom. This would buy time for our family's development plan. But I didn't expect Kenneth to manage the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce so well, to the point that he used profits to tie the four families together, allowing this alliance to be maintained until now. "
Laurist had already walked half a circle in the room. He continued, "In the beginning, I didn't think much of this alliance, but when our family's Shirovas Island was attacked, which led to our expedition to the Haneabada Archipelago and the destruction of that slave kingdom, I realized the importance of this alliance. If it weren't for the three families helping us isolate the pressure from the North, the Norton Family wouldn't have been able to hide in the North and carry out our development so peacefully, allowing our family's strength to grow so quickly.
The North is too big. It's just a province of the Empire, but it's as big as three Delemsk provinces. With the Norton Family's previous strength, even if we controlled the entire North, we would still attract countless greedy wolves. In particular, the North only has three main roads to the outside world. If it's blocked, the North will be isolated from the Empire's territory. To put it nicely, it's easy to defend and hard to attack. To put it bluntly, it's like we're isolated from the world. Even though the North Sea City's Oxhorn Bay can connect to the outside world, the sea route alone can't support the large amount of goods produced in our territory.
That's why even though our family's armed forces are strong enough to sweep through the entire North, I still maintain the alliance of the four northern families. Even if I wanted to monopolize the entire North, I used the method of exchanging territories instead of breaking the alliance and resorting to force. The Cummings Family is the first family to become enemies with the Norton Family. Before I returned to the family's territory, they launched an aggressive attack on our family. At that time, the Norton Family was beaten into a turtle hiding in its shell, and could only passively take a beating.
Logically speaking, I should have destroyed the entire Cummings Family and scattered their bones into ashes to appease the hatred in my heart. Unfortunately, Duke Gammus's father was a man of great foresight. He made the prompt decision to avoid my army and fled to the eastern part of the Northern Lands to find a way out of my reach. He sent his men to sincerely apologize and ask for peace. In the end, I forgave them. Through our interactions, I realized that Cummings's talent in business is comparable to yours. It's just that you're in charge of the overall situation, while he's focused on business and interpersonal relationships. It's this appreciation that made us friends.
Among the three allies, Duke Cummings is the one with the most foresight. He is very clear that as long as this alliance is maintained, the Cummings Family can smoothly transform from a merchant family to a traditional noble family. This is the reason why he spares no effort in managing the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, as the four northern families alliance expands, the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce's influence increases day by day. To Duke Cummings, this is the best of both worlds.
I once heard someone say that a fence needs three stakes, and a good man needs three helpers. Although the Norton Family has a history of two to three hundred years, it is still a small noble family in the North. It can't compare to the powerful noble families with long histories on the continent. In the former Crimson Empire, the Norton Family was famous for its loyalty. That's why we insist on being loyal to the Crimson Empire's rightful heir, the Andinac Royal Family. This is like a very heavy burden on our family. It's easy to carry it, but it's very difficult to take it off.
You should be very clear about His Highness's scruples towards the Norton Family. Right now, our family has reached the peak of the nobility, unless we can establish an independent kingdom. But this is impossible, and it is not permitted by His Highness. If we rebel, then the Norton Family's reputation of loyalty for two hundred years will be destroyed. This is not something I can bear. The reputation of being a rebel is not good, and I don't want to be condemned by everyone.
So now, the four northern families alliance is very important. Think about it, the four northern families cooperated well and caused His Highness to suffer a great loss. Our Norton Family gained a great advantage and obtained jurisdiction over the Delemark and Winston provinces, turning these two provinces into the Norton Family's sphere of influence. In the eyes of His Highness, the four northern families are one, and he can't target any one of them. He can only find a way to destroy our alliance first.
Without the four northern families alliance, His Highness only needs to deal with the Norton Family and slander us with rumors, and the reputation of the Norton Family will plummet. But now that we have three allies, His Highness can't use his usual tricks. This is why I'm glad to have established an alliance. No matter which family His Highness targets, he must consider whether they can withstand the counterattack of the other three families.
This attack on the four central duchies is a bait, but we have to swallow it. Earl Filim wants to revive the Pegasus Family's prestige. Currently, the family's territory is facing a manpower bottleneck, so it's not surprising that he has his eyes on the four central duchies. Earl Shahin has never been good at territory management, so it's understandable that he wants to plunder. They swallowed the bait thrown by the second prince, so we have to go along with them. Just like what you said to me, our family will also benefit from attacking the four central duchies. Therefore, the alliance of the four families in the north must maintain the same steps, and not be easily provoked by the second prince and become estranged.
But I didn't expect His Highness to drag Grand Duke Fisablen into this. That old guy asked for the release of the soldiers of the 3rd Frontier Regiment who surrendered to us, obviously to restore his strength. Earl Filim and Earl Shahin are now dazzled by the benefits of attacking the four central duchies, and Duke Kempis doesn't understand the power of Grand Duke Fisablen, so they don't want to help us because they are worried that the decision to attack the four central duchies will cause trouble again. This is also the reason why I agreed to release those soldiers. The only pity is that without these free labor, many of the projects we have to carry out will have to stop. "
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